In 2003 online sales in the U.S. were greater than $100 billion USD. This according to a report from www.shop.org the U.S. on-line retailers association. Total on-line retail sales for last year reached $114 billion USD or 5.4% of all U.S. retail sales.
The strongest category was travel. It increased by 91% to $52.4 billion USD over 2002. Home and office, near and dear to our heart, clocked in at $11.1 billion USD followed closely by computer hardware and software at an even $11 billion USD.
The report is entitled "The State of Retailing Online" is based on the survey results of 150 retailers in the U.S. Some other interesting points:
- 79% or all on-line retailers were profitable last year, up from 70% in 2002
- Operating margins were reported at 15% overall compared to minus 16% margins in 2002
- Most retailers believe that 24% of off-line sales were influenced by the Web compared to 15% in 2002.
- 87% of retailers accepted in-store returns of on-line purchases
- 77% of retailers collected customers e-mail addresses at their stores, up from 57% in 2002.
2004 Outlook
According to the association…Shop.org…this heady trend is firmly established and is expected to grow in 2004. They are predicting that an estimated 43% of computer hardware and software will be purchased on-line this year, 23% of all entertainment tickets, 22% of travel and 19% of books.
Overall they expect on-line sales in 2004 to reach $144 billion USD this year, or 27% of the entire retail market.
So far, we have not been able to trace any similar type reports for Canada and applying the old standard 10% rule doesn't work when it comes to on-line transactions.
Sources: www.shop.org, www.nytimes.com.
